Why you must read

I remember the time that I had just received a new copy of a Laura Ingall's book that I desperately wanted to read. At that point in my life I was a little girl with freckles who dressed up in my bonnet and pretended that I was living the Little House on the Prairie series. The day that I received the next book in the series I made an error in judgment and called my brother a name. I was heart broken when the book was taken away from me and my dad told me that my punishment was that I couldn't read the book for a week. I cried and got angry because not being able to read my book was pure torture. Reading assignments were things that I loved and still do.

Do you love to read? I hope that you do but if you don't I want to tell you that reading is important. I can just imagine that some of you are thinking that I sound like your mother when I say that reading is important. In a world where you can just watch the movie instead of the book we have forgotten the feel of those crisp pages and the fresh smell of a newly printed book but most of all we have forgotten that reading great literature grows our hearts and minds.

"Reading Christians are growing Christians, when Christians cease to read they cease to grow."

-John Wesley

One of the best reasons to read is this: you must read to learn more about Christ. Hearing a Bible verse here and listening to a sermon there is not going to grow your love for the Lord as much as you would if you would read the Word. When you read you put your time into something and what you put your time into you will care about. You must read because all of the Wikipedia articles in the world aren't going to give you all the information you need to be acquainted with a Shakespearean masterpiece. Carl Marx knew that reading is a powerful exercise. The Communist Manifesto took freedom captive and became one of the most infamous books of all time. Literature changes things.

Do you want to know more about Christ? Then read his Word. Do you want to be entertained without the television? Then read a book. Do you want to change the world for good? Then read a book that will change you. Put down the remote, log off of facebook, and just do it. Just read.